The United Paperworkers International Union engaged in a lawful strike against Duro Paper Bag Company. In furtherance of its dispute with Duro, the union established pickets at two local Kroger Supermarkets.
The pickets' signs and handbills announced a "consumer boycott of Duro Paper Bag Co." and urged customers to ask Kroger for boxes or bring their own bags to transport their purchases from the market. On the first day of picketing, 4,300 customers passed through the two stores, but Kroger was only able to furnish 115 customers with boxes before it exhausted its supply. Kroger claimed that it could furnish boxes to only 2.5 percent of its customers. On at least one occasion, a woman abandoned her purchased items at the cash register when her request for a box instead of a Duro bag could not be satisfied. The woman refused to pay and use what she termed "scab bags."

Kroger claimed before the NLRB that the union was engaged in a secondary boycott in violation of Section 8(b)(4)(ii)(B). The union insisted that its picketing activity was legal under the Tree Fruits and Safeco decisions. Decide. [Kroger Co. v. NLRB, 105 LRRM 2897 (6th Cir. 1980); Paperworkers, Local 832, 258 NLRB 67, 108 LRRM 1073]